I need book suggestions for a 9 year old girl who would 'rather get the audiobook thanks mum'

[Pagwatch]

Maybe she is never going to get into reading but I read all the time and her brother is doing English Literature at Exeter so it is weird for me. We are going on holiday and I want to try and take a couple of books to try and spark her interest.

I want cracking stories but with relatively simple language. Ger reading ability is fine but she is lazy so something she can read fluently would be great. The nice woman in Waterstones recommended Magyk and Rose and The Lost Princess.

Does anyone have any others? I am going to try reading with her a bit too. DS1 and I discovered the Harry Potter books doing tat so it might help.

Honest to God, if she isn't interested so be it. But she wants to visit book shops and seems to be interested but picks up things where she knows the story - like Inkheart, or things like Toms Midnight Garden which is a lovely book but for her it is like wading through mud.

All suggestions welcome. I have an amazon basket. I am ready.

Thanks

Also if she likes history Viking sagas for children might be good - great yarns. I'll see if I can find any later.

The Woolpack - Cynthia Harnett
The Load of Unicorn - ditto
Lizzie Dripping - Helen Cresswell
Anything by Roger Lancelyn Green or Rosemary Sutcliff.

I'd love my DD to read more too Pag. She is 12 and obsessed with bloody BBM, and all the other electronic crap that is around.

She has trillions of books but getting her to read a whole one is nigh on impossible. The only ones that have held her interest are Jacqueline Wilson (aaargh, but at least she is reading) and I am purchasing the reprinted Ruby Ferguson Jill books as they come out - she loves those.

Actually, this is just a roundabout way of marking my place on this thread in case there are suggestions suitable for my DD.

Good Luck (going anywhere nice?)

Might she enjoy graphic novels? Then there's a clear reason to read the book rather than listen to an audio, IYSWIM.

I'd especially recommend the Ottoline books if she hasn't read them which I guess are half way between a traditional book and a graphic novel.

This probably doesn't answer your question but she might like them!

My ds is 16 and a voracious reader, but he also loves audio books, as it is easier to carry his iPod rather than lots of books when we go away; and for him it has also meant a broadening of what he reads, as he dips into different genres.

I'd still encourage the book buying, but don't dismiss the audiobooks entirely. We get ours through Audible, and it's part of ds's Christmas present - two credits a month.

I'm just rereading the Bartimaeus trilogy that I bought for ds years ago, and enjoying it. I also remembered when I was thinking about this last night, that Jean Plaidy wrote a couple of books for youngsters based around the Tudors, and ds also recommended a Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England.

I always reccomend 'Saffy's Angel' by Hilary McKay on these threads, it's a great great funny and easygoing book, as well as Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is more wide ranging, 'journey to the river sea' is an amazing adventure in to an amazonian jungle, bit of history, but not sure if the reading level would be too difficult? (shouldn't be), also 'Star of Kazan', but she has also written simpler books (can't quite remember the titles now.

My ds is 8 but has a higher reading age, however he still likes reading things for his age group, and sometimes younger (!) just because they're books, but he is a real bookworm.

He's gone through Oliver Moon and Amy Wild books, which are fun, aimed at 6-8 year olds, and are nice, easy reads. I'd add in Pony Mad Princess books to that category as well, because I think they're fun, and he probably would too if I left any lying around for him.

I would have thought that for a lazy reader some of the suggestions in this thread might be rather off-putting.

OP, is your daughter girly, or does she like stuff aimed at boys? If the latter, what about trying Captain Underpants, Flat Stanley, Beast Quest, Astrosaurs and others in that line? And I second the Horrible Histories and Horrible Science suggestion. There is also a Horrible Geography series.

Cassie Bowen Takes Witch Lessons
Fudge books, anything by Judy Blume
Janni Howker- Badger on the Barge etc?
Noel Streatfield
What about Heidi....I thought it looked intimidating at first, but ended up reading it about ten times on holiday.

For what it's worth, I think one of the points Jabed was making was that you can be v. clever and still not necessarily be a book person, which is reassuring really. Some people get into books later on, some people stop being bookworms entirely in their twenties. Sorry, not trying to bring up bad feeling, just to say I doubt she was trying to be nasty!

You've probably checked out some of those books by now I imagine so I'll just share my own experience. DS1 wasn't a reluctant reader he always loved books and being read to but having language and comprehension issues we were on the lookout for issues a bit. He preferred comics (and still loves them) and manga books. This went on for some time and I wondered if he'd ever know the joy of reading a whole novel independently. I needn't have worried.

We found the Scream Street series when he was 7 and it appealed to his sense of humour. He begged me to go to the bookshop to get the next one and so on. That started the ball rolling. He likes history so we got the boxset of Horrible Histories next (way cheaper than buying separately). They go the distance age wise and he re-reads them still.

Then we hit the jackpot with Percy Jackson as mentioned above.
He started these at age 9 and re-reads them constantly now at 13. He has developed a huge interest in Greek mythology and language. Rick Riordan can't write them fast enough for him. If your dd has a Nintendo DS Lite you can get the series on their Flipbooks too. We have books and flipbooks. RR also wrote novels based on Egyptian and Roman Myths and DS devoured these too. But PJ opened the door to the classical world and fired his imagination like nothing else I came across. Now he wants to teach classics when he's older so it could be a lifelong passion - here's hoping!

Other history based novels that he liked were

The History Keepers by Damian Dibben

The Time Riders (series) by Alex Scarrow
The Roman Mysteries (series) by Caroline Lawrence
Runemarks by Joanne Harris

Also enjoyed

Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathan Stroud
Skullduggery Pleasant , Derek Landy

He gets very excited to find a series in particular that holds his imagination over time.

In audiobooks he liked Terry Pratchett's hilarious Johnny Maxwell series and Maurice and his Educated Rodent, Anthony Horowitz's Falcons Malteser and Stephen Hawkings kids book George and His Secret Key to the Universe (wouldn't read the book but very happy to listen in the car). We use audiobooks en route to school and they were great when he was sick recently. I wouldn't mind if he listened more to audio it helps so much with attention, memory and lang processing. And it's a pleasant experience to be read to, very relaxing.

has anyone said Malory towers/Enid Blyton?

I am flabbergasted at some of these suggestions I really am - some of them are much too challenging for a 9 year old reluctant reader. The Sword in the Stone! Tom's Midnight Garden has particularly dense language! I would try much easier books like Mr Gum, Enid Blyton, Jacqueline Wilson, easier Michael Morpurgos, Dick King Smith, and some of the series like Pony Camp Diaries etc.

My oldest daughter was a very reluctant reader at 9 - so much so that her state school assumed she must be dyslexic as she didnt want to read the Harry Potter series . She is now 12 and loves reading - but this didnt happen until year 7! They all get there in their own time!

I would suggest a Lauren Child book. Not only are the books hilarious and interesting, but the font changes throughout the book and makes it a really fun read. Much better than an audio book! www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141365607245?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
My daughter also went mad for the author Cornelia Funke when she was around 10, I think they are fantasy books? Anyway she seemed to really enjoy them! www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141365558774?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649